An unnamed minor sued the state last year after being denied a driver’s license matching the gender identified on their birth certificate.
The Motor Vehicle Division would only allow for a male or female designation. The minor and their parents appealed the decision to the Montana Human Rights Bureau, which reviews discrimination complaints against the state.
The Bureau found that the license denial likely amounted to discrimination. But the MVD appealed to the Montana Human Rights Commission, a governor-appointed board that handles disputes with the Bureau. The Commission upheld the denial.
The minor and their parents challenged that decision in Missoula District Court. Judge Shane Vanatta ruled the state violated Montana’s constitutional right to equal protection. He ordered the MVD to issue the plaintiff, and future applicants, driver’s licenses with nonbinary designations.
Alex Rate with Montana ACLU represented the plaintiffs.
“It holds unequivocally that our protections against discrimination on the basis of sex include transgender or nonbinary status,” Rate said.
The Trump Administration issued an order early this year requiring that federal documents, like passports, must identify the gender a person was assigned at birth. But drivers’ licenses are regulated at the state-level.
About half of states allow for a nonbinary designations on a drivers’ license.
Rate says the plaintiff plans to apply for a new driver’s license soon.
Amanda Braynack, a spokesperson for the Montana Department of Justice, says there was no sex discrimination and the state will appeal the order to the Montana Supreme Court.
